Smoking
by foxygirlchan
Summary: People sometimes do things that others don't expect them to do as habits. And Yuffie is no exception. The dark gunman makes her reflect her morals. [Not romance]


**Author's Notes:** My muse has been attacking me with stories for Final Fantasy 7; haven't been able to think of anything else for a while. Decided my muse knew what it was doing and it should get it over with. 

Drabble/One-shot.

Before Meteor strikes and the battle with Sephiroth.

Enjoy.

**Smoking**

Yuffie let out another puff of smoke from her cigarette.

It was unusual, the hyper-active, always-happy ninja girl smoking. Most people would, do and might imagine that she would find such a habit disgusting.

Truth was they weren't too far off.

Yuffie never liked smoking. She actually hated it with a passion.

Barret and Cid always did it though, and maybe that influenced her to do it. Maybe it was because she wasn't sure that she would live to see another day after the battle that determined if the world would live or die. Maybe it was just to piss of her father.

Nobody really knew, not even Yuffie.

All she knew was that all those problems went away. After she breathed out smoke from the cigarette, she could just see her problems floating away with the smoke. It gave her a feeling of being in paradise. No worries and no problems to bother her.

She just stood at the deck of the Highwind, looking up at the stars that glinted behind the glass of the ship, leaning on the protective railing puffing out smoke.

After all, she'd never smoke in public. It was too much to bear.

People would tell her it was bad for her health, or that a girl her age shouldn't be doing it.

She agreed with them every step of the way. She thought it was horrible that she smoked, but the feeling of happiness that was aroused when she breathed in some of the cigarette was too much of a good feeling to leave, especially if she was going to die. What's the point of having good health if you didn't know if you were going to live?

She kept on staring at the sky. Looking at the large rock in the sky that mocked her, as if telling her she couldn't stop it.

She just blew some smoke at it.

Suddenly, she heard a clank of metal on metal and turned her head, cigarette hanging from her mouth, to find herself staring at a monster of a man.

Vincent Valentine.

Yuffie sighed and turned her back towards her comrade to once again stare at the sky, shaking ashes off the tip of her cigarette.

She could feel the man approach her, but stop a few feet away.

She knew what was coming. A question. One everyone asked when they found her smoking.

"What are you doing?"

"What's it look like I'm doing?"

"Smoking."

"Doesn't take a genius to know that, now leave me be," Yuffie replied, shaking her hand that held her cigarette as if dismissing the man.

She didn't feel him leave or approach her, so she assumed he was staring at her in bewilderment or something like that.

Maybe because she didn't seem like the type to smoke?

Maybe.

Yuffie was indifferent on the situation though. She didn't care if he stayed there all night as long as he didn't bother her.

Suddenly she felt Vincent at her side, a bit surprised but didn't show it. As stated before, she didn't really care as long as he didn't bother her.

"Since when have you been smoking?"

A question out of the blue, brought to you by Mr. Vincent Valentine.

"What does it matter?" replied Yuffie, breathing in some smoke and exhaling it.

"Just curious. You don't strike me as the type-"

"-To smoke? Heard it before, but does it really matter, really?" drawled Yuffie as she shook her cigarette again, ashes falling down the deck of the Highwind. Vincent stayed silent. Yuffie shrugged it off and went back to her thoughts.

Only to be brought out of them again after a few minutes.

"Why do you smoke?"

"Does that matter either?" Yuffie repeated again, shrugging off the question. She didn't feel chatty at this very moment. Of all the times Vincent wanted to talk it had to be in her special time alone?

This man was like a walking curse.

Every time Yuffie tried to talk he kept quiet and every time Yuffie tried to be quiet he wanted to talk.

He needed to know when to make up his mind.

"Again, just curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat-"

"-But satisfaction brought it back."

Yuffie was surprised at Vincent's retort back to her.

She grinned, and then she laughed quietly, making Vincent raise an eyebrow at her.

"Sorry about that," Yuffie smiled after she stopped laughing, "But if you want to know so badly, I'll tell you."

Yuffie went silent, taking a puff of her cigarette again waiting to see if Vincent had any objections of any sort.

She looked at the smoke that she blew out slowly rise above her and then disappearing after a few moments of floating. She then turned her head towards Vincent to see if he made a face at her or something.

His face was blank, staring at her with patience. She grinned again and started to talk.

"I smoke," she paused, thinking about what she was going to say. There were many reasons she smoked after all, "I smoke because it gives me a sense of comfort."

She turned her head to look at Vincent to see if she had shocked him or made him have any reaction at all.

She frowned at seeing Vincent's facial features not changed from the ever-lasting patience they usually held. She was a bit disappointed.

She blew out more smoke.

There were a few minutes of silence between the two, filled with Yuffie's smoke.

They both had drifted off to their own thoughts once again.

After a while, Yuffie's cigarette went out and she tossed the butt down the deck of the Highwind, not caring what happened to it. She'd blame Cid for it later.

She took out her lighter from her back pocket and her packet of cigarettes from her other pocket, sticking a cigarette in her mouth; she put a hand in front of the tip, and proceeded to light the stick. After successfully lighting it, she closed her lighter, stuck it back in its place and placed the cigarette in between her middle finger and index finger so she could move it away from her mouth so she could blow out smoke.

Vincent just kept on staring at her as she went through the motions of lighting a cigarette on. It gave her an uneasy feeling at having someone stare at her for this long, especially this man. His crimson eyes gave off and eerie glow that she was sure could give one nightmares if they thought ill of him.

Finally Vincent spoke.

"A sense of comfort?"

"Yep," was Yuffie's simple reply as she stared at the meteor in the sky, slowly approaching them with speed to rival a snail's.

"From what?"

Yuffie turned to look at the man and it was her turn to raise an eyebrow at him.

"What do you mean 'from what'? Vinnie, we've gone through so much, what's not to worry about?" Yuffie sighed as she inhaled some more smoke and exhaling it slowly so she could watch the smoke drift away.

Vincent stayed silent once again.

Yuffie didn't really mind though. At other times of the day, she'd pester him to no end so he would reply, but right now was her special time. The time that she didn't have a worry, the time where her problems floated away with every puff of smoke she breathed out.

She never did smoke in public. It was too much to bear.

So she smoked at night.

No, not every day, just a few days a week; once or twice, three when she seriously needed it.

A few minutes of silence and Vincent spoke up once more.

This also made Yuffie laugh a little. It was unusual for Vincent to start up a conversation with her. It was usually she who tried to talk to him, not vice-versa.

"So it makes your problems go away?"

"Pretty much," Yuffie replied shortly once again. After all, she didn't really feel a need to reply to the dark gunman, she was only replying at all because he didn't really talk to her much and it was awkward to just stay silent. If Tifa or Cloud asked she would have most likely lied.

But not to Vincent, she could trust him. He didn't talk much anyways.

"When did you start smoking," Vincent asked again. It was the question that Yuffie had avoided first.

"I started to smoke," Yuffie paused again. She couldn't remember anymore. It had been a long time ago. Yes. Yuffie was very young when her habit started. "I started to smoke a long time ago. I don't remember anymore though. Maybe I started when my mum died or some jazz like that. A servant suggested it so I wouldn't cry anymore, I think."

Yuffie took a puff of her cigarette again.

Vincent and Yuffie stood in silence as the night passed by slowly.

Yuffie suddenly licked her thumb and stuck it at the end of her cigarette. Stopping it from burning, surprising Vincent that she would do such a thing, even if only slightly.

She sighed, took her packet of cigarettes and stuck her half-finished cigarette in with the rest, putting it back in her pocket.

She then yawned, stretched and turned to head back towards her room. She then remembered that Vincent was with her and stopped in her tracks. She turned to the gunman who had been looking at her walk away, wondering what the young woman was doing.

"Oh, sorry Vinnie forgot you were there. I'm done for today. I'm off to bed. Girls gotta sleep," stated Yuffie as she turned around, waving at the gunman and then pausing once again. She turned to look at him. "Aren't you going to sleep?"

There were a few moments of silence, causing Yuffie to think he wasn't going to answer. She was just about to turn around and shrug it off when his reply finally came.

"I might."

"Might? Don't you sleep? Or are you really a vampire?" asked Yuffie, the last part was a joke. She didn't want Vincent to think she had a split-personality or something.

She could see he smiled behind his cloak at her joke, making her grin.

"I don't need as much sleep as you do. I might go to bed later," was Vincent's reply at her question.

Yuffie frowned. She didn't want Vincent going to sleep late. It was bad for a growing boy, er, demon, although he had slept in a coffin for 30 years, but she didn't count that.

"Why don't you sleep now?" asked Yuffie. It was her turn to be curious.

"Nightmares."

"Oh," was Yuffie's faint reply. She looked at Vincent who kept a straight face. It was weird to just now realize that he had nightmares. She never really thought about his sleep very much. Heck, she didn't think much about Vincent in general.

She suddenly got an idea.

"Vincent, think fast," Yuffie's only warning as she tossed something at him.

Vincent caught it and stared at what she had thrown at him.

She had thrown him her pack of cigarettes.

"Yuffie, I don't smoke."

"You don't have to be an addict to enjoy smoking. Just imagine your worries floating away with the smoke."

Yuffie turned to walk away and left Vincent alone to his own thoughts.

After a few moments of staring at the packet Vincent sighed mentally and put his hand on his forehead.

He didn't have a lighter.


End file.
